Inerrancy
by JoMarchWrites
Summary: Although they're considered the most compatible and cooperative team of detectives in the NYPD, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are forced to attend a partnership teambuilding and training seminar. Three days of talking about their pasts, present, and futures brings forth a tumult of emotions, forcing them to make decisions that will change their lives. (E/O,M for future chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**_Part 1: You've Been Served_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Olivia questioned, brandishing the interoffice memo in her hand. "Tell me this is a joke." She crossed her arms and stared at the aging man behind the desk.

He raised both greying brows and folded his weathered hands, and he sarcastically intoned, "Good morning to you, too, Detective Benson."

"Captain Cragen," she huffed, "Honestly?" She waved the crumpled sheet of paper at him. "We are probably the only team in this entire precinct that doesn't need to go to this thing!"

Cragen rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "You have to," he told her flatly. "You're both up for review in less than a month, your jackets look like they could be manuscripts for the next two Stephen King novels, and you've got personal baggage that even Louis Vuitton wouldn't take credit for, so you have to fucking go."

She narrowed her brown eyes. "You know who Louis Vuitton is?"

"Benson," Cragen snapped, "It's three days out of your life, you need to go, play a few rounds of twenty questions, help each other climb a mountain...I'm not asking you to give him a kidney!"

She balked, straightening up, then smiled briefly as a memory fluttered across her mind. The smile was short lived, though. "Why us? Why now?" she asked, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Because, eventually, every team needs to go through this, or they can't be a team, understand?" he told her, and then he saw the look in her eyes. "Is there a reason you don't want to go? Something...you're afraid of, Benson?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. She flailed the memo at him one more time. "Fine," she spat, tossing her head back in defiance. "But is the department at least springing for separate rooms?"

Cragen snorted. "Now you're the one that's joking," he chuckled. "One room, uh...one...one bed." He saw something flash in her eyes. "But there's a couch."

"Wonderful," she moaned sarcastically, then turned on her heels and left his office. She stormed over to her desk, ignoring the questioning looks she was getting from the other detectives, and she plopped in her chair with a dry curse. She ran her fingers through her dark hair, then pulled on the sleeves of her red turtleneck. "We have to go."

Her partner looked at her for a moment. "Couldn't charm your way out of it, huh?"

"No, El," she said, her brown eyes venomous. "I couldn't. Three days in a scuzzy motel in the middle of fucking nowhere...with you," she prattled. "One bed, by the way."

"Oh," Elliot said, stunned, his brows turned up. "Really? He said that?" He leaned over his desk and lowered his voice. "He's, like, giving us permission, here! He must trust the shit out of us...or...does he know?" There was a gleam in his blue eyes and something wicked in his grin.

"I certainly didn't tell him," she laughed, giving him a smile that reached her ears and made the corners of her eyes crinkled. Genuine. "And I doubt you had that conversation with him, so no, he doesn't. One-P-P is fucking cheap, end of story."

Elliot took the memo off of her desk and read it again. "Well, maybe it won't be so bad." He tossed it back to her. "We make nice with the psych guy, we do some team building bullshit, we get to spend some quality time alone together, which..."

"Psych guy," she interrupted, throwing the letter back to his side of the desk. "Look who it is, and then tell me it won't be so bad."

Elliot's eyes scanned the notice, and then they widened, then closed. "Fucking hell," he griped.

"Can't make nice with him, can we?" she questioned with a smirk. "Unless we lie through our teeth."

"Skoda," he mumbled. "Bastard can read us like comic books. Well, hey, it's a partnership seminar for work. He can't get personal, and if he catches you staring at my ass..." he was stopped from finishing his sentence. A pencil hit him in the head. He turned to her, trying not to laugh, and he raised one eyebrow. "Ow," he said.

She challenged his look with a crooked smile of her own and a small tilt of her head. "I called down to HR, and, uh...I'm the only woman on the roster. Prepare to get possessive."

"I don't have to prepare for that," he quipped. "Besides, I know I don't have anything to worry about." He smoothed out his tie and licked his lips, his ego glowing. "You know, that means we're gonna be the hottest couple there."

"Couple?" a voice from the next desk over called.

Elliot cleared his throat. "You know what I mean, Fin. Pair. Team. Whatever."

Fin shook his head in annoyance, then looked at Olivia. "I had to go to that thing last year with Skeletor over here," he jutted his chin toward his partner. "Almost got mandatory sensitivity training because he told the doctor I keep calling him names."

"You do," Elliot said, matter-of-factly.

Fin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but he wasn't supposed to tell the shrink that!" he laughed. "You remember what he did to us, Munch?"

Munch looked up for a moment, thinking. He pushed his glasses up, then nodded in remembrance. "He made us list the things that annoyed us about each other, and we had these foam bats...had to hit each other every time we felt genuinely insulted." He looked at Olivia, then at Elliot. "Two minutes in, he excused himself, came back with a bottle of vodka, and sent us back to our rooms."

Elliot laughed, then frowned. "Wait, you got two rooms?"

"Budget cuts," Cragen said, appearing behind them. He handed a yellow slip of paper to Fin, and then a pink one to Elliot. "Go. Now."

"I hate the pink ones," Olivia sighed, getting out of her chair. She grabbed her jacket then followed Elliot through the open doors of the squad room. "What is it?" she asked as they stood waiting for the elevator.

He looked at her, sighed, and said, "Fifteen year old Jane Doe, found on the steps of the courthouse." He stepped aside when the metal doors slid open, letting Olivia in first. "I won't miss dealing with this shit for the next three days."

She hummed in agreement, but deep down, she would rather have to deal with two cases at once than have to talk about how she really felt about her partner, especially in front of Doctor Skoda.

_**Reviews are appreciated :)**_

_**Peace and Love**_

_**Jo**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Part 2: It Begins_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

After trying every excuse in the book, including coughing like a fiend and claiming she had a fever, Olivia found herself sitting in the passenger seat of a beat-up maroon sedan, with Elliot behind the wheel. "This blows," she mumbled, her arms folded in petulance.

He shot her a look. "Relax," he said, smoothing his right hand over her left knee. He squeezed lightly. "We're gonna make the most of this, I promise." He winked at her and turned the wheel, one-handed, pulling off the highway. The car jostled as it rolled over an unpaved stretch of road. "Think of it as a vacation."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Seriously?"

He laughed and told her, "Okay, a vacation with a catch. Babe, three days...two nights...alone. No kids, no cases, just us."

Smiling, she rested her hand over his. "That does sound kind of great," she said. "But you're leaving out the mandatory career counseling."

"Small price to pay," he said, seriously. He exhaled as he turned down another eerily empty street.

She bit the inside of her cheek, staring out of the window and watching the trees roll by in a hazy green blur. "What do you think he's gonna ask us?"

"Same thing he always does," he told her with a slight huff. "If we fucked, if we're fucking now, if we plan to fuck...if you're pregnant, if I'm the father..." He looked over at her, the smirk on his face growing. "We could always tell him the truth. Give him details."

"Oh, my God, we'd be fired and sent up to Hendrix," she laughed.

"God, Liv," he chuckled. "He'd have a heart attack! I mean, if I told him everything...especially that night in Jersey after the Commissioner's Dinner. That's some Fifty-Shades-of-Grey shit right there."

She turned to him,with darkened eyes and a coy smile, and she said, "He'd have a heart attack." She started toying with his fingers, teasing them, stroking them. "I still have that scarf," she says with a hint of seduction in her voice.

Elliot let out a throaty moan, wriggled in his seat a bit, and turned the wheel, this time driving into the parking lot of the motel. It was one story, the rooms accessible from the outside. Peeling paint, chipped shingles, and crumbling steps were a few of the more attractive attributes of the building. "Cragen wasn't kidding when he said they had to cut the budget, was he?" he quipped as he parked.

"Oh, God," she moaned. "If we walk in there and Norman Bates is sitting behind the desk..."

"Liv!" he cut her off, laughing. "Chill!"

She turned to him, sunned. "Chill? You've been hanging out with Dickie and his friends, haven't you?"

He rolled his eyes and got out of the car, and then ran over to open her door for him. He saw the confused look she was giving him. "What? I can't be chivalrous?"

"Not when we're about to walk into hell," she quipped. She gt out of the car, watched as he closed the door, and she straightened out his tie. "So, Skoda."

"Yeah," Elliot griped and rolled his eyes. "We just can't let him manipulate us, keep calm, don't let him..."

"Lie to us," she said, nodding, walking with him into the building. They flashed their badges at the desk clerk, who thankfully was not a psychotic looking man. "We're here for the..."

"The board room," the clerk interrupted, standing and pointing, "Is through those double doors and to your left."

"Thanks," Elliot nodded and led Olivia down the hall. "Place like this has a boardroom?"

Olivia scoffed. "Probably a broom closet with a couple folding chairs in it." She heard him chuckle, but she wasn't laughing. They stepped into the room, which was only slightly bigger than a broom closet, nodding a curt greeting to Doctor Emil Skoda.

"You're the first," the doctor said, gesturing to the empty chairs. "Have a seat. There's coffee."

"There is a God," Olivia mumbled, plopping into the nearest chair and grabbing the carafe. She poured two cups and shot a look at Elliot, all but commanding him to sit next to her.

Skoda folded his arms and stared at Olivia with a smug grin. "So you've reaffirmed your faith, Detective?"

She looked up with narrow eyes. "It's an expression." She turned to Elliot. "He's starting already. Is he fucking..."

"Liv," Elliot said softly, offering a warning look as he sipped his coffee. Under the table, he rubbed her upper thigh slowly, keeping her from getting agitated any further.

She took a breath and nodded, then finished fixing her coffee. "So, Doc, what's the first thing on your list of torturous events."

Skoda smirked, pulling out a chair. He sat across from the pair, folded his hands on the table, and said, "I would hardly call it torture. Just talking." He looked at Elliot and said, "Stabler, you first. Tell me...in three words...how would you describe Olivia to someone who'd never met her."

"Three words?" Elliot hummed, knowing he couldn't say the first three that came to his mind. "Empathetic, tenacious, and captivating." He bit his lip. "They all mean...a million different things, and they're all accurate descriptions. She's strong, physically, mentally, emotionally...and she is truly a beautiful woman, both aesthetically and...she has a beautiful heart, a beautiful soul. She has such a way with people that..."

"Three words," Skoda said, holding up a hand. "That's all I asked for. You didn't need to explain."

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "I know you," he said. "I didn't want you reading into anything, making them inappropriate or sexist when you know I meant them in the most professional and honest ways."

Skoda looked skeptical, but shrugged it off and turned toward Olivia. "Now, you, Benson. You're telling someone who's never met him all about Elliot. What do you say?"

"Passionate, dedicated, and suave," she said with no trace of a smile. "Both professional and personal connotations of the words."

"You wouldn't mention anything about his arrogance, hot-headedness, or his complete lack of respect for authority?"

Olivia smirked, sipped her coffee, and said, "Passionate." She licked her lips and leaned over. "Do you need a dictionary? Thesaurus? I can give you the definition and a full list of synonyms. It's an all-encompassing word."

Skoda sighed heavily. "Fine," he unfolded his hands and rested his chin on one of them. "Name three things that annoy you about her, Stabler." He reached for the coffee pot, not breaking his focus on Elliot's face.

"You got a thing with threes, huh?" Elliot snapped. He thought for a moment, his hand still tracing intricate patterns on Olivia's thigh under the table. "It bothers me that she doesn't have as much confidence as she should. She can't take a compliment." He paused to look at her. "She is a perfectionist, and sometimes, she let's little things bother her, get under her skin." He sighed and looked back at Skoda. "She never takes time for herself, she puts everyone before her. She doesn't understand that she's allowed to be a little selfish."

"Are you going to clarify that?" Skoda asked, holding a coffee cup in one hand, his head still resting on the other.

Elliot shook his head. "It's pretty damn clear."

Skoda tilted his head toward Olivia. "Your turn, Benson," he nodded once.

Olivia chugged down the rest of her coffee and immediately reached to pour a second cup. "It bothers me when he...well, when he gets too..." she stopped and looked at him. "Screw this, El. There are things you do, at work, that piss me off. You never finish your paperwork, and you don't spell-check what you actually do. You're ridiculously impulsive, but, ya know, sometimes it's not a bad thing, it just bothers me that I...I can't be like that. I guess...the third...is that you can pretty damn oblivious sometimes. You miss things that are right in front of you."

"I see them eventually," h said, a soft look in his eyes, and the hand on her thigh moved up just a bit higher, settling. "You know that."

Skoda saw them looking at each other, and he knew what was hidden in their eyes. "Okay," he said, getting their attention. "That's a...that's a good start." He heard the door open and knew the other detectives were starting to arrive. "You have a one-on-one session with me, tonight at six, on the patio. Wear something warm, it gets chilly at night out here, and, uh, we're gonna make s'mores."

"Huh?" Elliot questioned. "We're girl scouts, now?"

"No," Skoda said, rolling out an irritated kink in his neck. "It's a...behavioral therapy." He sat back, then turned, greeting the other detectives.

Olivia and Elliot looked at each other, simultaneously drinking their coffee. This was going to be a long night.

_**Reviews are encouraging ;)**_

_**Peace and Love**_

_**Jo**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Part 3: Stolen Moments_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"Did you notice Humprey from the Two-Seven staring at you in that tactical defense lecture?" Elliot had a scowl on his face as he threw off his shirt and tossed it onto a worn-looking chair.

Olivia grinned at him and folded her arms. "He was not," she countered, rolling her eyes.

"Yes," Elliot spat. "He was." He yanked a clean shirt out of his duffel bag, huffing.

She strode up to him, smoothed her hands along the muscular curves of his arms, and wrapped herself around his neck. "You're hot when you're jealous," she whispered, a gleam in her eyes that had more meaning than she hoped to let on. She brushed her nose against his, teasing.

He scoffed. "I'm not jealous," he said, dropping his shirt to the floor and gripping her ass with both hands. "I have nothing to be jealous of, you know I know that."

"Then what's the problem?" she murmured, her lips brushing his.

A soft, low growl escaped and he pulled her tighter against him. "Mine," he said firmly. "I know..." he sighed and kissed her once. "I know they're gonna stare. You're fucking gorgeous, but I can't help it, part of me wants to beat the shit out of them every time." He kissed her again. "Let them know you're mine."

"Can't," she whispered, dropping her lips to his neck. She nibbled at the thin skin of his collarbone, making him moan. "At least, not now. Not here."

"If you don't stop that," he warned with a twitch, "We're gonna be late." He gave her ass a tight squeeze and bucked into her, purposely rubbing against her. "Very late."

She chuckled and sucked lightly on his neck. "Fine by me," she purred, pushing back into him, urging him toward the bed.

"Naughty detective," he said with a laugh, moving his hands away from her backside to unbuckle his belt. He felt her shucking off her clothes and he bent his head low to capture her lips in a more severe kiss. He wriggled out of his pants and cupped her face, groaning against her mouth and growing harder against her body.

"What are you gonna do, arrest me?" she teased back, flattening over him as they dropped onto the mattress. She peered down at him, her hair falling around her face, cascading onto his. She stayed there for a moment, watching his eyes.

"Hello, there, beautiful," he said with a smile, his right hand brushing against her cheek. His left was protectively and possessively looped around her body, holding her down to him.

She smirked and dropped her head, kissing him slowly, moving her tongue against his in a rhythmic tempo. Her legs spread a bit, curling around him, and she shifted her hips until she was easing onto him. She seethed, the hiss caught in his kiss, and her nails dug into the front of his shoulders beneath her.

"Fuck," he spat harshly, moving both of his hands to her rocking hips. "What brought this on?" he asked, nipping at her bottom lip.

She bit back, catching his top lip and pulling, making him growl again. She let him go, kissed him hard, and then pulled away as she said, "I'm just reminding you." She licked a long line up the expanse of his thick neck until she was hovering over his lips again. "I didn't notice anyone staring at me, El, because I was too busy staring at you."

He chuckled before reaching up and kissing her again, deeper than before, as if attempting to explore the very depths of her soul. Moans and short gasps passed between open mouths and smacking lips. Hands clutched eagerly at bits of skin and grabbed desperately at rounds of muscle. His fingers trickled back toward her hips and he gripped as she began to thrust and rock faster, riding him harder.

Her head flew back, a loud moan of his name escaping. Her nails scratched at his chest earning delicious noises from him.

"Fucking hell," he moaned, his voice scratchy as he let his hands dance up her sides, around to her front, until one hand was clamped around each of her breasts. He squeezed hard, making her cry out his name again, then smoothed his palms over them, teasing her nipples. He whispered a curse as he felt her twitching and jerking around him. "Come on, baby," he coaxed, his body now fighting back, his hips rising with each rock of hers.

"Oh, God, Elliot," she whimpered. Her hands found his and she linked their fingers, holding his palms over her breasts as she bounced and rolled against him in slow, deep waves.

He pulled his left hand away from her body, suddenly arching it around the back of her neck. He pulled her down fast, slamming his lips into hers and his hips upward, a hard growl coming loose as he spilled into her.

She stilled, her body clasping around his, pulsating and pulling him inside of her, taking everything he had to give as she gave all in return. Her heart thumped, she could feel his matching the quick beat, and she let her forehead drop against his.

"Jesus," he sighed, panting, covering her face and neck with small kisses.

She laughed and moaned, shaking slightly as a secondary aftershock shot through her. Breathing him in, she inhaled slowly. "I needed that."

"God, me, too," he chuckled. He kept them still, unhurried kisses and soft whispers of adoration and promises of forever leaving his lips with each endearment. "I don't want to let you go," he told her sweetly, finally pulling out of her. He instantly missed the hot-velvet feeling of her surrounding him. "But we have to meet Skoda outside."

She whimpered as she rolled off of him. "I know," she complained, rolling her eyes. "What could he possibly find out about us by forcing us to make s'mores," she griped.

He laughed as he sat up, reaching over the side of the bed to get his shirt. He pulled it over his head and brushed a hand over his head to smooth out his now-sweaty hair. "Maybe he wants to see if you like your marshmallows burnt, or how meticulously you stack the chocolate and graham crackers." He stood up and grabbed a pair of jeans, forgoing the underwear. He wouldn't be needing them later.

She was half dressed already when she looked at him, a worried look in his eyes. "You know how he works, El," she almost whispered. "What if he gets us to admit...things that could get us into trouble. I mean, this is all on the record, here."

"Relax," he said, kissing her forehead. He zipped up his jeans, watched with intent eyes as she did the same to her own dark denim pair, and he said, "I promise. Nothing we say here is gonna get us into trouble."

He kissed her again, then followed her out of their small hotel room, onto the front deck of the motel. He watched her move, hiding the smug grin well as she walked toward the fire pit and Doctor Skoda, hoping he'd made her a promise he could keep.

_**Reviews are welcome. Thank you for reading.**_

**_Peace and Love_**

**_Jo_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Part 4: Getting Somewhere_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Skoda sat, leaning back in the mesh-covered chair near the fire-ring, watching as Olivia and Elliot roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. He scribbled notes in his pad, smirking, acknowledging the differences in the pair's approach to the task at hand.

Elliot was messy, getting melted chocolate all over his fingers, sucking them clean when he realized it. His marshmallow, gooey and barely brown, alternated between being mashed underneath the chocolate and sitting on top of it, he didn't seem to care.

Olivia, though, was particular. She roasted her marshmallow to near-burnt, her chocolate square was perfectly centered on the bottom graham cracker. She slowly placed her skewered marshmallow on the chocolate, and then used the top cookie to hold and pull, keeping her fingers completely clean.

Elliot watched her, his mouth full, chocolate on the outer corners of his lips. "Why are you doing that?" he asked, chewing.

"What?" her reply came, one eyebrow raised and an offended tone to the question.

"You're being so careful, it's...it's all going to the same place, just slap it together and eat it." He bit into his s'more, the sticky white and brown filling dripping out from the edges.

She laughed and shook her head. "Like you?" She scoffed and carefully sank her teeth into a corner, holding a napkin underneath.

Skoda tilted his head. "Your personalities shine through, in everything you do, don't they?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Olivia asked, mildly irritated.

"Benson, you're calculating," Skoda told her. "Organized. You always have a plan, you don't act on impulse. You need to have a clear focus, and if you can't have things go exactly as you feel they need to, then you won't even begin, am I right?" He smiled. "You're reserved, neat. You don't like to cause chaos, you won't make a move if it will somehow affect you or someone else negatively."

Her silent, deer-in-headlights expression was all the validation Skoda needed. "And Stabler," Skoda continued, "You act first, impulsive and rash. You know what the outcome is going to be, so the path to get there doesn't matter. You're impatient, you want what you want when you want it, and if things happen to get messy along the way, you don't care. You're not concerned with collateral damage, as long as the job gets done."

"Pretty much," Elliot mumbled, swallowing.

"Okay, uh, now we get down to business," Skoda said, sitting up a little straighter. "Do you miss your partner when he's away, Olivia?"

She froze, staring at the therapist with her mouth still mid-bite. She let the s'more fall away from her, placing it on the plate on the ground beside her. "What do you mean? Like, on vacation? Of course, I do, because then I have to work with Munch, and that's not exactly..."

"I mean, whenever he's away," Skoda interrupted. "When he's not right beside you."

If you're asking if I suffer from Elliot withdrawal when he's in the bathroom, the answer is no," she said, rolling her eyes. Her arms crossed and she linked her ankles.

Skoda hummed and wrote something in his notebook about her closing herself off when the question was asked. "So when he's not around, say, for a day or two, then? You miss him?"

"He's my partner," she told him, her brows knitted together.

Laughing to himself, Skoda looked at Elliot. "Since she's refusing to answer the question, you tell me, Stabler. Do you miss her when she's gone?"

"Every second," Elliot said. There was no hesitation in his answer. He was flatly honest and looking directly at the doctor. "She...she's the only person in my life who gives me...I don't know, a sense of calm. Self-control. She keeps me grounded and always pulls me back if I'm flying off the handle, which...happens a lot."

Skoda wrote jumbled words down before looking back toward Olivia. "See, he's being upfront and open to this, why can't you just answer the..."

"Yeah," she interrupted, her lips tense and her eyes slightly narrow. She tightened her grip on her own arms. "I miss him when he's gone. Next question."

"If you were on a call, and the conditions of violence and danger were escalating, would you tell him to leave or would you need him to stay?" He half-blinked at her, trying to discern the hidden signs in the expression on her face. "For example, you're pretty sure the building is about to blow up, but you've got a victim or perpetrator to deal with..."

"I would tell him to get the hell out of the building," she said quickly, one firm nod.

Skoda leaned closer to her. "Is that because you want to save the girl and get the bad guy all by yourself? You don't like sharing the glory, Benson?"

"What?" Olivia spat. "No, not at all! I would tell him to get out of the fucking building because if it blows up..." she paused, sighed, and said, "He's a father. He has a family."

"And you think his life means more than yours because of that?" Skoda questioned.

"Yes," she said. It came out as a definitive statement. "Among other reasons."

"You would sacrifice yourself," Skoda said quieter, writing something down. "You tend to do that, I mean, people talk. I've heard about your willingness to be the one suffering so he doesn't have to, care to tell me why?"

Olivia scoffed. "You mean when I left the unit?" she shook her head, knowing this would come up. "He had more to lose than I did, and we were in a...situation...that could have completely destroyed his life if I didn't make the choice. I didn't care what happened to me. My life has never really mattered too much, not to anyone except..."

Elliot looked at her, his eyes wide, and he wouldn't let her finish her sentence. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" he barked, and then turned his chair to face her more severely. "I wouldn't leave you alone in any situation, at all, regardless of whether or not it was dangerous! You...you really think you...you don't know how much you fucking matter, do you?"

Skoda smirked. They were playing his game, after all. "Why don't you tell her, Elliot?"

"Fuck, Liv, you're a part of my family, so don't even think...Christ, I wouldn't leave, and you know it!" Elliot told her, ignoring Skoda and just being honest. "We go into a situation together, we come out together, or we don't come out at all, because if anything ever...ever...happened to you, I don't think I'd..."

"Whoa," she held up a hand, her eyes wide and her face white. "Stop. Stop right there." She silently told him not to say anything else in front of Skoda. "I know," she whispered, her eyes closing slowly.

Elliot waited until she opened her eyes, then nodded sadly at her, biting the inside of his cheek.

"You'd what, Stabler?" Skoda prodded, watching him intently, his face brightened with proud curiosity.

"She knows," he told the doctor. "You, uh, I guess you have my answer, then." He slapped his hands on his thighs. "I wouldn't leave her. I wouldn't tell her to leave, because I know she wouldn't go. I'd wait, or I'd..." he paused and laughed a bit. "Together. Partners. Whatever happens, ya know?"

Olivia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You have a bad habit of just saying whatever is on your mind, El." She eyed him for a moment. "You don't care who's listening, you don't care about the consequences."

"Damn right, I don't, Liv," he said to her. "I say what I gotta say, and people who need to hear it are gonna hear it."

She shook her head again, her arms dropping limply to her lap. "Any more questions, Doc?" she asked bitterly.

"Yeah, actually, one more, for tonight," Skoda said, again his pen danced across his paper, his expression smug. "Has Stabler ever disappointed you?"

Her head fell to one side, her lips curled into a confused grimace. "What? I don't...how do you mean?"

"However you want to take it," Skoda returned, gesturing to her. "Personally or professionally. Both."

She took a breath, bit her lip, and looked at Elliot. She caught his eyes, his deeply soulful blue eyes, and she smiled at him. "Situations we've been in have been disappointing," she said, and then she looked at Skoda. "Things have happened...completely out of our control...but he...he has never disappointed me. Not in a way that could be considered...important, not at all."

Skoda dropped his pen and stared at her. "You didn't..." he let out a harsh breath. "You didn't fight me on that one. You just...that was honest and fast and...are you smiling, Detective Benson?"

She looked at Skoda, then at Elliot, and then back to Skoda. "I answered the question," she said, relaxing into the chair. "You gonna ask him, now?"

Skoda was completely flabbergasted. His whole plan had been turned on its ear, her bluntness unexpected and unprepared for. "Uh, yeah, uh-huh," he nodded dumbly.

Elliot laughed. "Don't bother, the answer's no," he said. "I don't think she ever could, either. Nothing about her...she isn't, never has been, and never will be a disappointment to me. In any capacity." He rose, then gave Skoda a snarling sneer. "Nice try, though." He bent down a bit, since Skoda was still sitting. "I know what you're trying to do, here, and I promise you, it isn't gonna happen. We are here, as partners, for work, so keep the objectivity of these asinine questions focused on how capable we are of doing our jobs, and stay out of our personal lives, or I swear..."

"El," she broke in, giving Skoda a demonstration of exactly what Elliot had described: her ability to pull him back from the brink of destruction. "He's not worth it. I'm tired. We have a long day tomorrow. Let's just go to bed."

Elliot shot Skoda one last warning look, then turned around.

Skoda watched them walk back toward their room, puzzled. He rubbed his forehead for a moment, thinking, and then he grinned in realization. "Well, I'll be damned," he said, and he grabbed his pen once more, writing out a new approach. He now knew exactly how to get what he wanted from them.

_**Peace and Love**_

_**Jo**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Part 5: Unkept Secrets_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction_**

Olivia was in the middle of an incredible dream: warm, white sand; clear, cerulean water; Elliot laying on a soft blanket, while she slowly rode him, never breaking eye contact. He flipped her over, a gleam in his eye, and he pulled out of her and moved down her body, stopping when he hovered over her wet heat. He lapped at her slowly, making her moan.

"Elliot," she hummed, a smile spreading across her face, her hands raking along his scalp as she slowly woke, realizing she was no longer dreaming.

He chuckled as his tongue swooped up and trailed down, his hands caressing her stomach and chest. "Better than coffee," he said, his voice gravelly and dripping with desire.

"God," she whispered, her nails scratching up the nape of his neck, bucking her hips to meet his working mouth.

He groaned a pleasurable yet unintelligible word as he started to suckle and lick deeper, loving the way she was now grinding upward against his lips. She loved when she lost control. He felt her coming undone, tensing and holding his head down with her hands, and he grinned smugly as he stopped.

"What are you...God, don't stop," she begged, panting. She curled her fingers, digging her nails into his skin.

"I'm not," he whispered, placing soft, small kisses along the curves of her hips, stomach, and chest. He dragged his leg up her body, slipping it between her thighs. He grunted her name as he inched his knee up, pressing into her core hard, feeling the wetness coat his skin. "Christ," he laughed, and then shifted his weight further to the left.

She kissed him, biting at his bottom lip when she felt him pressing into her.

He made a sound that fell somewhere between a sigh and a gasp when he slid home, thrusting his hips hard and making her cry his name into his open mouth. He let out a stuttered moan through his kiss, his hands seeking out hers. When he found them, he clutched them, hard.

She gripped back just as tightly, falling deeper under his spell. praying that this wasn't just another dream or figment of her imagination. She'd wanted him, waited for him for so long, that having him now was, in her mind, the universe's way of apologizing for dealing her a shitty hand. "El, please..." she moaned against his lips.

"What, baby?" he returned. He was moving to a perfect rhythm, hitting spots so deep within her. "What do you want?"

"God, don't stop," she whispered, her body moving with his. She rose to meet every thrust, her pulse matched his, and her heavy panting was perfectly timed with his ragged breathing.

He grunted, shuddered, and thrust harder, pressing her hands into the mattress to give himself more leverage. "Never," he whispered harshly. And he meant it. It had been a long while since he thoroughly enjoyed sex, since he felt the blood pumping and rushing through his veins. It had been so long, before Olivia, since the act could genuinely be described as "making love," riddled with high emotion and deep, permeating feeling. He had her, now, and he had so many things he wanted to show her, share with her, do to her. He never wanted to stop.

She felt herself, under him, losing grip on stability. Her body convulsed, muscles twitching in every part of her body. "Oh, my God, Elliot," she moaned, trembling as she clenched around him.

The sudden vibrating tightness coaxed out his own orgasm, and he mumbled a low, "Holy fuck," as he shot off into her, still pistoning hard and deep, dragging it out as long as possible for them both.

She felt him stop and still, buried in her depths, hitting the end of her. She traced abstract patterns on the glistening skin of his back. "I love you," she breathed, her eyes closed.

He kissed her slowly and softly, and said, "I love you, too." He dropped his forehead to hers, hoping nothing would force him to move. Almost as soon as the wonderful thought entered his head, there was a knock on the door. He popped his head up staring shocked down at Olivia. "Who the hell..."

"Shit," she interrupted, pushing him off of her. She sat up and scooted off the bed, grabbed their bathrobes off of a chair, and tossed his to him. "Fuck," she hissed again, pulling on her robe.

Elliot took a breath as he tied the robe's belt, then ran to the door. He opened it just a bit. "Yeah?" he questioned through the crack.

Doctor Skoda grinned and held up a carafe of coffee. "Morning," he chirped, shaking the metal canister. "Can I come in?" Before Elliot could answer, he pushed the door open. He laughed to himself when he saw Olivia in her robe, sitting on the edge of the mattress.

"We, uh," Elliot began, scratching behind his ear. "We can explain this."

"No need," Skoda said as he sat at the desk against the wall. He grabbed a few foam cups off of the tray the motel provided, and he poured three hot cups of coffee. "I'm in the room next door. I heard everything."

**_Reviews are encouraging! :)_**

**_Peace and Love_**

**_Jo_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Part 6: Line of Questioning_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction_**

Olivia sat on the bed, next to Elliot, holding her coffee in both hands. She hadn't said a word since Skoda dropped the bomb on them that he'd been able to hear them...although she was certain they hadn't been that loud.

"What are you gonna do?" Elliot asked, his lips in a thin line across his face.

Skoda shook his head and sipped his coffee, and then he shrugged. "This seminar is about your ability to work together. Nothing more, so really I don't have to say anything about this to anyone else." He smirked as the two detectives looked at him in disbelief. "I'm not a total asshole. Contrary to what you both think."

Olivia was skeptical, drinking her coffee and pulling on the collar of her robe. "We should...get dressed."

"You should be comfortable," Skoda said, tilting his head. "Things might get a little tense in here, so..."

"Why?" Elliot interrupted.

Skoda put his cup down on the desk, then swiveled in the chair to look at Elliot head on. "What I'm about to ask you...your answers...it might heat up a bit, if I'm being honest." He leaned back, folded his arms, and looked from Elliot to Olivia. "I'm here to expose the raw nerves of your partnership. You may not like some of the things that come to light."

"Anything you could posibly ask, I think I already know her answers," Elliot said confidently.

Skoda raised one eyebrow. "But do you think she really knows yours?" Taking his silence and slight flinch as an answer, he grabbed a pen and flipped open his notebook. He looked at his watch, and then mumbled, "Fifteen minutes."

"What?" Olivia asked straining to hear him.

"Fifteen minutes," Skoda repeated louder. "I do have other teams to evaluate here. Don't think you're special." He cleared his throat and looked at his pad. "Okay, either of you can answer at any time. "When faced with a tough situation, do you believe that a logical decision is the best one, even if, in the end, it hurts someone, who may or may not be your partner?"

Elliot narrowed his eyes. "That's a loaded question." He licked his lips and said, "If it would hurt her, no, if it would..."

"You can't qualify the statement, here," Skoda said, firm and almost angry. "If you found yourself in a position where you had to arrest someone close to her, or even her, because it had to be done, would you do it, yes or no?"

"I...I can't believe," he struggled with the words, his head and his heart both aching. "It's my job, if I had to, if it came down to it...yeah." He shrugged. "But you'd better fucking believe I would also be finding every possible way to get her out of trouble."

Skoda wrote his answer down in the notebook before looking at Olivia. "Does his answer bother you?"

"No," she said honestly. "We've had to do things...a lot of things...that hurt each other. We survived. We got through it. It only made us stronger. We've had to arrest people...family, friends...hell, I was arrested for murder, and he never gave on me. Not once. That's what partners do. We do the job, doesn't mean we let each other fall."

"Am I correct in assuming, then, that your answer is the same?" Skoda asked, toying with his pen.

Olivia nodded, and then brought her coffee cup to her lips. "I'm gonna need a second cup of this," she said, scoffing.

"At least you quit drinking tea," Elliot said with a laugh. "Fucking flower water, you were...no, ya know what, it wasn't the tea I had an issue with. It was that you changed, and I wasn't there. I never want to go through that again."

She smiled at him, but the Skoda snapped her out of her moment of peace, grabbing her cup and refilling it. "Thanks," she returned sarcastically, sipping and waiting for the next question.

Skoda tilted his head as he scribbled something in his notebook and then he spoke. "Okay, Olivia, you first, this time. Would you ever keep your partner out of an important case or withhold information from him?"

"Not by choice, and only to protect him." She spoke from experience, with a firmness that scared her. "I would never keep anything from him unless it was because I had no other option." She took a long sip of her coffee and said, "He knows that."

"And how does that make you feel, Stabler?" Skoda asked, grinning. "Insecure? Upset? Angry?"

"Proud," Elliot answered, offering Skoda a small smile. "The fact that we can tell each other anything...everything...and when we can't, it's because we are told not to, and I know it killed her to have to keep me in the dark about Oregon. I kept my share of secrets for the same reason, but when they came out and we talked through it, again, it only made us stronger." He glanced at her. "You...you have no idea what it feels like to know that you've got someone that you can trust...so implicitly...with everything you have, and you know they do the same with you." He turned back to Skoda. "Best feeling in the world."

Skoda blinked. "Are you feeling okay, Stabler?" He leaned forward. "She just told you..."

"I heard her," Elliot intruded. "Your line of questioning here isn't getting the desired result, huh? That it? You chose to ask us things that you thought would make me snap, yell, throw shit?" He chuckled and folded his arms. "Not gonna happen. We know what you do, and we know how you work. I told myself, and Liv, that when we got here, it was all or nothing. We aren't gonna fall into your traps, not this time." He let his eyes close just a bit, to slits, threateningly. "Ask the next question. I dare you."

"What game?" Skoda said, throwing his pen and notebook on the desk. "You got something to say to me, you say it, Stabler!"

Elliot rose fast, his nostrils flaring, but he realized something and took a breath. "You're not...you are not gonna be able to use me as a case study, Skoda." He ran a hand through his hair. "You can try all you want, but you won't get me to lose control," he took a step forward and poked Skoda in the chest. "Clear?"

Skoda furrowed his brows. "Crystal...but I'm just doing my job. I'm not trying to coerce reactions, I'm just asking...what the NYPD wants me to ask."

"What," Elliot said, almost a whisper. "Well, then, you tell them the truth, that Liv and I are nothing but professional and separating us would be a bad idea. Very bad." He hummed and wagged his head back and forth a few times as he thought it through. "You can cite emotional dependence, and inability to trust others, because that's all fucking true."

Skoda sighed and sat back down, conceding. "You two..." he threw a hand in their direction. "You're fucking infallible. The sheer inerrancy you show as partners, your case closure rate, it makes a lot of people angry, ya know?" He poured himself another cup of coffee. "But the fact that you, Stabler, have lost your temper and have broken rules and policies without so much as a Post-It note stuck to your file...and Benson...you get emotionally and personally involved in cases, you were booked on a murder charge, which, innocent or not is grounds for immediate termination..." he paused to sip his coffee. "It all raises a lot of questions. Who's protecting you, why do you protect each other, what's it gonna take to get one of you to put your own career ahead of your partner and take the jump. I;m just asking the right questions...to get those answers."

Olivia got up and moved over to Elliot, standing beside him, her body turned toward his, a behavior that did not go unnoticed by Skoda. "Bottom line," she said, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm here," Skoda said, "To evaluate your professional skills, I didn't lie about that. But, uh, I also will be making a final recommendation, and based on the rest of our time here, it may be that one, if not both of you, leave the unit. A promotion, a transfer, a termination, it could be anything. Or nothing. I might discover that you need to stay together, but it depends. No one has lasted at Special Victims as long as you, and it's...I have to determine if it's the unit itself...the work, the cases, the victims...that's keeping you there, or if it's each other."

"Does it matter?" Olivia posed, blinking. "I mean, I'll answer the question. You know I was...my mother was raped, I'm the product of a rape, you know that...I can't...I can't see myself doing anything else," she said with emotion in her voice, eating at her words. "But...and now I'm getting really honest here, I can't do it...effectively...without Elliot." She looked at Elliot, took a breath, then looked at Skoda.

"Wow, okay, we really are having a breakthrough here," Skoda said, shocked that Olivia's walls were finally coming down. "Why not?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, long enough for a thought to pass that made her smile. She opened them again and said, "It's not our personal relationship, it's really not. I know if one of us ever left, he'd still be there...my heart...is always going to be his." She sighed and continued. "It's because...he drives me. He pushes me. He keeps me from getting in too deep, and he...he makes me want to be better. We only work because we balance each other out."

Elliot looked at her. "Liv, that's not..."

"Yes, it is," she said, nodding. She turned back to Skoda. "You said it yourself, he has a volatile temper, I'm too sympathetic. He breaks all the rules, I live and die by them. He's an absolute disorganized mess and I would color code everything if I could. He's the gritty, street-wise, high-octane cop, and I'm the detail-oriented, look at the facts, get on their good side, give them a hug..."

"I get it," Skoda said, his voice soft. "That's all...yeah, I've seen it. You keep him from killing people, he keeps you from trying too hard to save them." He blinked. "Last question."

"Shoot." Elliot had his arms around Olivia's waist, his head half-buried in her neck. He'd just fallen in love with her all over again.

Skoda hated himself for what he was about to do, but it had to be done. He had to know, if only to be certain he would make the recommendation that was truly best for everyone involved. "If you had to, would you be able to do your job without the other one by your side?"

Elliot saw the look in Skoda's eyes. He pulled Olivia back toward the bed, sat down, and yanked her into his lap. "Seriously, Emil," he said, taking it from professional to sincere, "What's this really about? You wouldn't be so focused on that unless..."

"I need an answer," Skoda cut him off. "But, uh, lemme put it to you this way...if your options were...take another job in the unit that would be...more money, higher rank, but you lose your partner...or leave the precinct altogether, which would you choose?"

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, and they knew. When they got back, one of them would have to make that choice.

**_Peace and Love_**

**_Jo_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Part 7: Faultless_**

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

He noticed she had not touched any of the food on her plate, and the fact that she had poked the same tomato with her fork at least ten times had not gone past him. "What's the matter?" he whispered.

"You..." she began, but she stopped and simply shook her head, her eyes still fixed on her soggy lettuce. "What you said to him..."

"It was the truth," he told her with a half-shrug. "If I was put in that position, that's my choice. I would rather..."

"Your kids," she interrupted, raising only her eyes to meet his, her chin remaining turned down and angled more at the rock-like meatball on her plate than anything else. "You have to send them to college eventually, and Lizzie's probably going Ivy League, you can't afford to..."

He watched as her words trailed off into silence and her lips ground together. "Listen," he started, shuffling his chair closer to hers. He discreetly rested his right hand on her left knee and drew her attention to him fully. "I've been saving for that for years. The only thing I would need more money for, now, is a bigger house and maybe a few vacations for us, but it's not like..." he tried to find a way to explain without sounding arrogant. "What's mine is yours, right? There's...there is no 'mine' anymore, only 'ours' so does it really matter who pulls higher rank or rakes in more money, if it's all going into the same account, and if yours is still the only face I see...then nothing else..."

"It does matter," she interjected, her mouth contemplating its ability to form a smile. "You've been doing this longer, you're more qualified, you're already a rank higher than me...and I know you, El, whatever the job is, if it means you make the rules, then you're going to be happier than a pig in shit," she joked.

He laughed and said, "Very true. But I know you, too, don't forget that. You could make more of a difference, help more people that I ever could, if you..." He felt Skoda standing behind him, and he took a deep breathe through his nose. He turned his head, slowly, and sneered at the doctor. "Someone should really tell the manager that they have vermin in the dining room."

Skoda rolled his eyes. "Can I sit down?"

"I don't know," Elliot scoffed. "Can you?"

"What're you, my English teacher?" Skoda huffed and dropped into the chair next to Elliot. "I only came by your table to tell you...I gave them my final write up on you." He sat back and slapped his palms to his knees. "No more one-on-ones, but you do have to survive the exit interview together before you leave here."

Olivia looked at him, pale and beginning to shake. "Final..." she swallowed. "So you told them to...do...what exactly?"

Skoda eyed her for a moment, wishing he'd brought his notebook. This was a side of her he rarely got to see. "The truth," Skoda said. "And I told them...what I truly felt was the best decision for the NYPD. Not for you. My concern...my job was to benefit them, not make your life all sunshine and gumdrops."

"Yeah," Elliot spat. "We know, for damn sure, that we rank low on your list of priorities."

"If it's any consolation," Skoda started, "I don't think it will be, but it might...make you less ready to murder me...I did tell them how valuable the two of you are together, and that separating you in any full-time capacity might be extremely detrimental to their effectiveness as a whole."

"You said that?" Elliot asked with widened and disbelieving eyes. "Were you drunk?"

Skoda laughed and felt himself relax around Elliot, for the first time in years. "No, no, I was incredibly sober." He absentmindedly began to peel the dark varnish off of the table as he encouraged himself to speak. "You two are...very sobering. You remind me that there are people in this world who are selfless, and that something beyond love does exist in more than just a psychomechanical theory."

Elliot looked at Olivia and grinned, a silent I-told-you-so, and he threw in a victory wink for good measure. They'd won.

Skoda chipped a strip of shiny wood off of the side of the table as he said, "You two...make this job less predictable. I'm used to dealing with power-hungry, money-fueled assholes with too much anger to be teachers and not enough to be serial killers. People who take this job because of the perks of the badge and the feel of the gun in their hands. People who would arrest their own mothers if it meant they would get an extra buck-twenty an hour and an office with a window." He raised his hand and looked up at them, disregarding the confused, yet happy, looks on their faces. "Neither of you wants any of that, not if the other can't have it, too. You put each other ahead of everything and everyone, except, I think, for Stabler's kids."

Olivia nodded in agreement before saying, "Yeah. But how did you get all of that out of four conversations and sloppy S'mores?"

"I got it by watching you," Skoda told them. "Not just this weekend, but each time our paths have crossed. I notice the way he looks at you differently than anyone else. I see the way you can't keep yourself from being completely relaxed when you're around him, and the way you tense up when you're not. The way you subconsciously graze each other's skin when reaching for a pen, or a file...the way you share food without even asking, or get each other coffee made perfectly...the things that silently pass between you and the way your words to each other always have more than one meaning."

Elliot whispered into Olivia's ear, "We've been Skoda'd," and gave her knee a squeeze as he laughed.

"I'm being one hundred percent serious, here, Elliot," Skoda said, not taking kindly to the chuckle and quip. "I gave the NYPD my professional recommendation, but now, I need to give you both my personal one." He leaned forward and tried to gaze as intently as he could at each of them. "You don't have to listen to me, I know you never trusted me and I don't expect you to start now, but..." he inhaled sharply and huffed it out harshly. "You have something...the kind of human connection people have died without finding. A love that is the basis of great fiction novels and Oscar winning movies, the kind of love that starts and ends wars."

"Are you giving us advice or writing us a sonnet?" Elliot chided.

Skoda took another breath. "I noticed it when you had that incident with Gitano. You could have easily walked away from each other, never look back. You could have quit, for good, and each take your own share of the fault. But you didn't. You...you couldn't."

"Oh, fuck," Elliot choked. "You're having us committed, aren't you?"

"What I am saying is...don't ever let go," Skoda said, closing his eyes and ignoring the snide comment. "What you have...don't throw it away, and don't take it for granted. Whatever happens with the job, or in your life, just...hold on, okay? As a doctor I can tell you, without the barest of doubts, that you will not survive losing each other. Jobs come and go. Hell, even marriages come and go. But what the two of you have is beyond the grasp of what the average person knows to exist. That is something miraculous, and you'd be a damned fool to throw away a miracle."

Elliot blinked. "You are drunk, you son of a bitch."

"No, Elliot," Skoda sighed. "You just made me realize that...you...are the kind of man I want to be. I can't put my career and a paycheck ahead of doing what's right. I shouldn't cast aside people, their feelings, just because the truth isn't what my client wants to hear. Staring now, today, with you...my subjects are...my patients, rather, are my priority." He rose, nodded at them both, and pulled a folded paper out of his pocket. He handed it to Elliot, but when no move was made to take it, he simply dropped it onto the table. "I'll see you both soon. Don't work too hard, and...I know you will, but...take care of each other. And yourselves." He nodded one last time then turned, walking dejectedly out through the swinging doors.

Olivia looked at Elliot, then down at the folded note. "What do you think..." but before she could finish speaking the paper was in his hands, being unfolded and taken hostage.

"Wow," he said, his brows knitting together tightly. "Fucking...wow." He read every word twice over, then handed it to her. "He really did...make us his priority."

Olivia took the letter and read it, feeling a slow, relieved smile cross her face. "Congratulations, Captian," she said with a wink.

"Yeah, you, too, Sarge," he returned, kissing her forehead. "Guess we can take that vacation now, huh?"

"Oh, I thought this was a vacation," she teased, reminding him of the conversation they'd had on the way to the motel. "I still work with you, at least," she folded up the letter. "He made that...pretty damn clear in this letter." She handed it to Elliot. "You know, though. This means you can't come out on calls with me unless it's an extreme circumstance. You can't change that..."

"Oh, I won't," he said, shaking his head. "But you said it yourself, and I think Skoda realized...I make the rules, now, right? I send you alone most of the time, with Fin or Munch when it's necessary. You report back to me, personally. I say when you come in, when you leave, and I think you, Sergeant Benson, will have to spend a lot of time being, uh, lectured in my office." He wagged his eyebrows at her and licked his lips.

She rolled her eyes and suppressed a chuckle. "We still have jobs to do," she told him. "I'm not neglecting my work to play dirty cop on your couch." She thought about it, and she grinned at him. "At least, not every day."

He laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Things'll be different."

She hummed in agreement as she let her head drop to her shoulder. "But not worse." She sighed and remembered what Skoda had told them. "We really are blameless in this, only guilty of find something people spend lifetimes searching for, El. We're lucky."

"Nah," he said, getting up out of seat. He held out a hand for Olivia, eager to pull her as far away from the horrid motel as he could, fast. He gripped her fingers and yanked, speeding up his steps as they got closer to the doors. "Just being rewarded."

"For what?" she asked, laughing as he ran faster, guiding her to the front doors and out into the parking lot.

He stopped running and caught her eyes as he caught his breath. "For being two completely broken and fucked up people..." he pulled her closer, brushed her nose with his, and said, "Finding inerrancy with each other."

"Don't use Skoda-speak," she teased with a light laugh as she grazed her lips over his.

He laughed before he kissed her, slowly and deeply. Pulling away, he sighed, looped an arm around her, and said, "Let's go home, Liv."

She stayed silent, but as she walked toward the car with him, she felt a new warmth and sense of self-worth soak into her, and she realized, she didn't have to go home. With him, she already was.

**_New story coming soon. _**

**_Peace and Love._**

**_ Jo._**


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